Hassan's latest version of his intervention story starts at 1:01. Gee, I did not know that the Goldbergs were a part of his exit from the Moonies. Were they?

[vimeo.com]

No. They were not part of the intervention, but perhaps met him shortly thereafter during his recovery process.

Then it's a lie?

It appears that Steve Hassan has changed and embellished his cult story over the years.

For example, Steve says that he was especially high ranking leader in the Unification Church. This seems doubtful.

My understanding is that Bill and Lorna Goldberg have never done cult interventionw work, but rather restrict themsleves to helping former cult members people through counseling and support groups.

Perhaps Steve Hassan attended a support group meeting led by the Goldbergs and/or received post-cult recovery counseling from one or both of them.

The Goldbergs know about Steve's ethical problems and have received complaints about him. However, they have chosen to essentially do nothing. Lorna Goldberg is on the ICSA board and a past president of ICSA.

Not long ago ICSA gave Steve an award and Bill Goldberg did the presentation.

The chickens are coming home to roost, for Steve Hassan. Yes, I am mentioned in the Acknowledgements of his last book (in the second-to-the-last paragraph, specifically), but I now am compelled to publicly denounce the man.

There is a book entitled Prison or Paradise? The New Religious Cults, by Rudin. It can be found here:

[www.amazon.com]

And also here:

[books.google.com]

Hassan is mentioned on pages 37-38, and 124 of this book.

Later on, I'll scan and present, in black and white, the pages that I am citing here on this board. For now, I quote from page 38:

"Steve is bitter when he remembers how quickly the church deserted him after his automobile accident. "I deeply believed the group was a loving family that cared about its members. As soon as I was seriously injured and could no longer collect funds or recruit, the Family called my satanic real family. The Moonies couldn't get rid of me fast enough!" (Emphasis added by myself).

But wait a minute; this account appears to be in contradiction to other accounts of Hassan's story of having left the Unification organization. In the video that I presented above, he is saying that the Goldbergs participated in his being deprogrammed out of the Moonies. In other places, it says that his parents hired former members of the Unification Church to "deprogram" him during his recuperation period, after that fateful accident that broke his legs. In the Rudin book, he is insinuating that the Moonies essentially kicked him out of the group, and that he could not have returned, even if he'd wanted to. So his story seems to change, and he seems to embellish upon it, over time.

And then there's the matter of what exactly his role and function within the Unification organization was. Was he a former "high-ranking" Moonie (his Wiki page says that he was the Assistant Director at the Unification Church's National Headquarters) , or just another van-driving "grunt" among the rank and file? I do not have a copy of Combating anymore, and so I cannot look it up from that book. Who knows what's true anymore?

The citation for the Rudin book is as follows:

Rudin, A. James, and Marcia R. Rudin. Prison or Paradise?: The New Religious Cults. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2014 04:20AM by zeuszor.

zeuszor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then it's a lie?


No, I know the Goldbergs and they actually do corroborate that they were around then and supportive of him. They were not part of his intervention, though, and he does seem to be playing it up and embellishing it all of a sudden.

rrmoderator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It appears that Steve Hassan has changed and
> embellished his cult story over the years.
>
> For example, Steve says that he was especially
> high ranking leader in the Unification Church.
> This seems doubtful.
>
> My understanding is that Bill and Lorna Goldberg
> have never done cult interventionw work, but
> rather restrict themsleves to helping former cult
> members people through counseling and support
> groups.
>
> Perhaps Steve Hassan attended a support group
> meeting led by the Goldbergs and/or received
> post-cult recovery counseling from one or both of
> them.
>
> The Goldbergs know about Steve's ethical problems
> and have received complaints about him. However,
> they have chosen to essentially do nothing. Lorna
> Goldberg is on the ICSA board and a past president
> of ICSA.
>
> Not long ago ICSA gave Steve an award and Bill
> Goldberg did the presentation.

Yes, that's essentially correct. They were supportive of him afterwards and he attended a few of their support group sessions. I am very disappointed that they stand by and do nothing in spite of all the complaints about Hassan. They seem to have some kind of misguided sense of loyalty to him, but they really do need to rethink this and consider the complaints and the harm being done. People who have stood by and done nothing or continue to reward him, bear responsibility for harm that is done. It appears they have learned very little from their studies of cultic groups.

MonicaPignotti: what do you know about the matter of the Rudin book?

MonicaPignotti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> zeuszor Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Then it's a lie?
>
>
> No, I know the Goldbergs and they actually do
> corroborate that they were around then and
> supportive of him. They were not part of his
> intervention, though, and he does seem to be
> playing it up and embellishing it all of a sudden.


Well, I heard that he recently bought back the rights to Combating. Now he can rewrite his story any way he wants to.